By Samantha Bryant

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

TAYLOR — Taylor City Council members voted Nov. 15 to direct staff to proceed with building and financing a recreation center and to issue a letter to the YMCA asking the organization to operate the facility. The motion came after city staff presented how the city could fund $3.5 million for the facility on property donated by Williamson County.

“The good news I bring to you tonight is that we have found a way to fund a facility, to the tune of about $3.5 million, with no impact to the taxpayer,” City Manager Jim Dunaway said.

City staff began researching the issue after a presentation Aug. 11 from YMCA of Greater Williamson County President/CEO Jeff Andresen, in which Andresen said the YMCA would be forced to end its presence in Taylor in June 2012 if his organization could not find a partner to help build a facility.

Andresen said the YMCA was subsidizing about $300,000 for a year and could not afford to do so any longer.

Dunaway said staff researched about 10 sites in Taylor where a recreation center could be built. He said Williamson County had offered to give the city a 5-acre tract near Taylor Regional Park and Sports Complex off of Carlos Parker Boulevard for a recreation center.

City Engineer Casey Sledge said the master plan for the regional park included a recreation center at that site years ago.

“It would have synergy with the other items in the park,” he said.

Dunaway said the recreation center could be funded through repurposing funds from 2008 and 2010 certificate of obligation bonds. The available funds total about $2.4 million. The city had issued the bonds for specific roadway and infrastructure projects.

“Fortunately, the down economy did something for us in that some of these jobs came in really under-budget, which left monies existing from these particular sources,” Dunaway said.

He said the leftover bond money had to go to capital improvement projects and could not be used for things such as city salaries or fire trucks.

“You absolutely can’t use these funds for operation of the overall government,” Dunaway said.

President/CEO of the Taylor Economic Development Corp. Jason Ford said the EDC is researching how the organization can acquire about $1.2 million in debt to give to the city for utility costs associated with construction on Second Street, freeing up the city’s funds to go toward the recreation center.

Ford said the EDC had planned to contribute a comparable amount to the East Williamson County Higher Education Center, which will now be located in Hutto instead of Taylor.

Dunaway said the money is enough to fund a basic recreation center that would have 15,000 square feet of exercise/health care space, a 5,000-square-foot indoor pool facility with lockers and showers, an activity pool and parking lot. An estimated budget for this facility was about $3.2 million, excluding soft costs such as engineering fees, architectural fees and equipment.

“We can fund this type of facility today,” he said.

Dunaway said input from the public showed that residents would like the facility to also include a gymnasium, which would bring the estimated cost up to about $4.2 million.

“It is our goal to continue with this process to seek additional funding,” he said, adding that the city will look for other ways to reach the $4.2 million goal.

More than 50 people attended the special City Council meeting, which was held in the auditorium next to the council chambers at City Hall.

Eight people spoke in favor of the recreation center, one with the stipulation that the YMCA would serve all members of the community, and one man spoke against it, saying that the money would be better spent improving the city’s streets.

Councilman Christopher Gonzales was the only council member to vote against the motion, saying that while he supported the recreation center, he also wanted a portion of the money to go street improvements.

“I’m just not comfortable with allocating all of the money for this project,” he said.

Councilman John McDonald said the recreation center would benefit Taylor residents.

“Streets are important, but this truly can affect positively or negatively, depending on how we move forward, the entire community,” he said.

Assistant City Manager Jeff Straub said the building size and specifications will still be negotiated at later meetings.

“This is just a model,” he said.

Straub said the city will also talk further with the YMCA of Greater Williamson County about how the organization will compensate the city for use of the facility, whether that is through rent or in-kind recreational services, or a combination of both.

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